Team:HK SKHLPSS/Safety
Safety
We value safety as much as our results.
The risk level of our project is categorized at level 1. Most of our procedures in this project, including the synthesis of DNA nanostructure, the DNA and RNA peroxidase assay, are conducted in vitro without involvement of highly hazardous chemicals or organisms. It indicates that experiments will be conducted safely in our laboratories with proper precaution. And in fact, no report for accidents is found throughout the whole process, showing that we really treasure a safe working place and process for our experiments.
Because of the restriction of general high school laboratories, we are not able to conduct PAGE and cloning in our laboratories. We therefore sought help from team HKU. The cloning process involved the usage of Escherichia coli (E. coli), which is the only organism that we have used throughout the whole project.
According to iGEM 2017 website, E. coli is classified as risk group 1 microorganism, indicating that it does not cause disease in healthy adult human[1].
Apart from the above, we have attended a Biosafety Talk organised by the DIYBIO company of Hong Kong in August. Staff from the DIYBIO company of Hong Kong had given an extensive knowledge regarding laboratory safety, especially handling hazardous chemicals or organisms. Throughout the whole iGEM project, all guidelines and suggestions were followed strictly to guarantee all procedures are safe.
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